A Little Bending
by volta arovet
Summary: Weekly submissions for the avatar100 drabble community. Occasionally profound, more often inane. Dumb humor, numerous OCs, and Jet love abounds.
1. Of All the Things I've Lost

Title: Of All the Things I've Lost...  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: none  
Challenge: #2 Undercover

NOTE: I was asked about this in a comment, so I might as well address it here. These are a collection of short stories written for the livejournal challenge community theavatar100. The majority of them are one-shots which should not be considered to be in continuity with each other. The ones that do connect to each other will be marked.

* * *

Sokka is okay with this. Really, he is. Okay, so orange is _really_ not his color and the body paint is making his skin itch and he feels really naked exposed _uncomfortable_ without his boomerang ready, but he's okay with this.

And if he were asked to do this again, he would (after the requisite complaining, of course) because if his sister and the brat need a decoy, they're darn well going to get a decoy. But...

Sokka gingerly pats the top of his head, careful not to smudge the paint. He sighs. He's really going to miss his hair.


	2. A Few Scars

Title: A Few Scars  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: none  
Challenge: #3 Out of Context  
Quote: "I just don't want to die without a few scars." --Fight Club (thanks to subdivided for the quote!)

The unmatched pair—one deceptively old, one painfully young—gave watch to the rising sun.

"This is foolishness, Prince Zuko."

"Honor is never foolish, Uncle."

"Bah. What has honor done for anyone, except get them killed? You are young. Your bruised ego will heal more easily than your scarred body."

"If the choice is between the coward's death and the honorable battle..."

"I am more concerned with your honorable death, boy."

"We'll all die someday." He turned his face to the sun, gold and crimson splashing across his pristine skin. "I just don't want to die without a few scars."


	3. Monsters

Title: Monsters  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: spoilers for King of Omashu, sort of  
Challenge: #4: Fairy tales, myths, and legends

They say there is a monster near the Water Tribe. Sokka says it's true. Who else would have eaten the last of Katara's fish?

They say there is a monster by the Air Nomads. Aang hopes it's true. He wonders if it would be fun to ride.

They say there is a monster in the Earth Kingdom. Bumi knows it's true. He named it Flopsy.

They say there is a monster in the Fire Nation. Zuko denies its truth. The last time Zuko saw it, it banished him.

_(Zuko waits for a punchline, and worries that he might be it.)_


	4. Sisters

Title: Sisters  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 64  
Warning: Dumb humor  
Challenge: #7: Family

"But, Sokka!"

"Captain."

"Captain! I thought we wasn't s'posed to hit girls!"

"Good point, soldier, but you see, Katara isn't a girl."

"She isn't?"

"No. She's a _sister_. It's okay to throw snowballs at your sister."

"Really?"

"Yup. However, if anyone else throws snowballs at your sister, you're morally obligated to beat them up. Got it?"

"Got it!"

"Great. Now watch this curveball."


	5. Questions and Answers

Title: Questions and Answers  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Dumb humor (what else is new?) and I'm kind of stretching the theme  
Challenge: #8: Secrets

It wasn't the indignity of joining the Avatar and the waterbrats. A part of his brain had always assumed it was inevitable.

"So, Zuko, I was wondering..."

It wasn't the long journey and harsh conditions.

"...what's the real reason you split with the Fire Nation? Come on, tell me."

And it wasn't even how Sokka kept asking him intensely personal questions in such a casual manner.

"Thought their uniforms were tacky, huh?"

It was how Sokka kept answering them himself.

"Kinda fruity of you, I guess, but can't really blame you."

Zuko could swear the lemur was laughing at him.


	6. Typo

Title: Typo  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: ...I am so incredibly lame  
Challenge: #10: Misinterpretation

It is said that the most spotless city lies on an island just west of the Fire Country.

The island is not considered Fire Country, nor does it belong to the Water Tribe, although its strategic location means that it is occupied by fire soldiers, and its citizens are obsessed with water.

Morning ablutions; evening purifications. The scent of water and soap fills the air.

The Avatar arrives to free the island; the citizens wave him past. After all, their ancient prophet has written that the island can only be freed by the boy who arrives on a flying basin.


	7. Exhibit

Title: Exhibit  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #11: Tourists

There is a gondola to the temple, now; it runs on electricity and makes stops every half hour. The statues all have numbered plaques, and there is a store out front selling postcards and prepackaged icecream.

Once, while a tour guide was explaining the historical significance of the intricate door carvings, a young girl visiting the temple looked, truly _looked_ into the last statue's eyes and...

And the sudden wind is common in such high altitudes and the statues' glowing eyes were just the reflection of flash photography.

Because we're civilized now and we don't believe the old stories anymore.


	8. Broken Bottle

Title: Broken Bottle  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 167  
Warning/Spoilers: 1st episode of Avatar and one of Scheherezade's stories  
Challenge: #12: "How it shouldn't be"(note: I didn't really like this one, so I ended up writing a second, much better one for this challenge.)

Katara remembers a story her Grangran told her when she was a little girl, and she knows that she doesn't have time for these types of thoughts, but she can't help thinking about the genie who had been trapped in a bottle for a hundred years.

In the beginning, the genie promises himself that he will reward whomever frees him with gold and jewels beyond anyone's imagining.

After twenty years, the genie decides that the reward should be a single wish, granting his liberator's greatest desire.

After fifty years of imprisonment, the reward is changed to a swift death, as punishment for taking so long to free him.

And as the hundredth year of immobile silence approaches, the genie promises himself that the whole world will suffer.

In the story, a clever fisherman tricks the genie back into his bottle. Now, as she hides from the broken boy with the hundred years' of madness in his eyes, she wonders how anyone could hope to do the same.


	9. Paths

Title: Paths  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100 (130 including transcribed dialogue, darn Aang and his longwindedness)  
Warning: Spoilers for The Blue Spirit (ep. 113)  
Challenge: #12: "How it shouldn't be" (second entry)

_"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends, too?"_

"Probably not," he says with a sad smile. When he opposes the Avatar in battle, he hesitates and, distracted, is cut down by a faceless soldier.

"Maybe," he says with a half smile, and joins the Avatar's group, treacherous thoughts racing through his head. Before he can betray the Avatar, they are captured. He is executed as a traitor.

"Of course," he says, and turns his back on his people. The Avatar is victorious. Lord Ozai curses Zuko with his dying breath. During the celebration, he slips away and follows his father's path.

_"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could've been friends, too?"_

Zuko attacks. There is no other choice.


	10. Fingers and Moons

Title: Fingers and Moons  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: I'm mixing zen buddhism with greek philosophy. Therefore, I should be shot. The title is from a common saying to zen students. And, once again, I'm stretching the theme.  
Challenge: #13: Childhood dreams

"What do you wish to be?" the elder asks.

"A hogmonkey rancher!"

A simple question—not even a koan. He and Monk Gyatsu have discussed it many times and come to their own personal answers.

"What do you wish to be?"

"Invisible!"

This is an exercise in separating the methods from the goal. The destination is all. The path is unimportant. For Aang, the answer is "to be happy."

"What do you wish to be?"

"A flying bison!"

The elder sighs. Aang grins. He wonders how long it will be before the elder realizes that Aang is now the teacher.


	11. Rediscovery

Title: Rediscovery  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Once again, I'm stretching the theme, but I'm closer than I usually am. This is as close to romance as you'll ever get from me. This one's a real favorite of mine.  
Challenge: #15: Pairings:Discovery

It was a long journey, my love, from the Fire Kingdom to the Air Nomads, and my bones are tired. As I walked among these distrustful strangers, I leaned on my staff as little as my pride allowed.

I searched.

I am too old for these foolish games, I thought, and Hide and Seek has long lost its charm.

I missed you.

But there was a mother, and there was a child as old as the time we've been parted. When the child opened his eyes, I needed no monk's test to see who you are.

"Hello again, my love."


	12. A Final Invention

Title: A Final Invention  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #16: Speculations  
NOTE: This challenge was issued several months ago when, at a panel discussion of Avatar, there were several revelations about the upcoming end of season one. We were to write a drabble based on the little bits of information we were given. I wrote about the person who ended up being The Mechanist from the episode The Northern Air Temple, but at that time, all I knew about him was that:

_"Another mysterious sketch involved a __mad inventor-type with wooden fingers_

Of course, he ended up being nothing like what I thought he'd be like, but the drabble still stands on his own.

* * *

He remembers the shape of the device—sleek, beautiful, deadly. He remembers the feel of it under his hands—smooth metal, cool and perfect. He remembers the way it hummed when activated—contented, soothing, deceptive.

He remembers how easily the Fire Nation captured him, how quickly he broke, how efficiently and conscientiously he built the device. He doesn't remember losing himself in the pleasure of creation, but he knows it happened anyway.

He remembers the screaming.

He remembers the destruction of the device, and how the remaining villagers made certain he could never build another one.

He remembers being grateful.


	13. That Day

Title: That Day  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Abuse of parentheticals, numerous comma splices. I'm so artsy.  
Challenge: #18 Three Wishes

His men think that his greatest wish is to capture the Avatar. They're wrong (or rather, they're only half right), but he'll never tell them so.

His uncle knows better (or rather, he's closer to the truth)—he knows that the Avatar is merely a tool to reach that opportunity (he'll never take it, coward), but Zuko can see it clearly, that day...

There is a procession of nobles, and music, and cheering, and his father at the end of it all, proud, strong, returning to Zuko what never should have been taken from him.

Zuko spits in his face.


	14. The New Kid

Title: The New Kid  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: I am so very, very lame.  
Challenge: # 24: Crossovers

"What do you think of the new kid, Jet?"

Jet frowned as he chewed pensively on a piece of grass. "I don't know, Smellerby. He's got some definite skills, I'll give him that, but he doesn't seem like the type to take orders. Could be trouble."

"He'll be okay once he figures out that you're the boss."

Jet laughed. "Yeah, maybe. Okay, Smellerby, you can spread the word. Rufio's in."

Smellerby nodded and headed out.

"Smellerby!" Jet called after him. The boy paused. "Keep an eye on him, okay?"

"How come?"

"No reason. There's just something funny about his voice."


	15. Canopy

Title: Canopy  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Stars a new OC.  
Challenge: #1: Vision

Wordsworth was the first to see a flaw in the freedom fighters' home.

It took him a moment to recover from his first flight through the forest's cover, and another to suppress his urge to investigate the zip-line, the water-wheel, and all these other wonderful contraptions.

The brainiac watched a copper leaf fall from a branch and join its brothers on the ground.

"Jet..." he asked slowly. "How do we hide this place during winter?"

When Jet smiled it was the smile of equals, and Wordsworth knew he belonged. "Wordsworth. Have you ever seen an adult look up?"


	16. Under the Mask

Title: Under the Mask  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #2: Under Cover

Everyone knows the Blue Spirit. He is the one who burned the Old Palace to the ground during the days of the corrupt king. He is the one who stole the secrets of Fire Bending from the elite and gave them to the peasants.

He was the one whose death had been reported many times, and who nevertheless returned when he was needed.

Zuko reaches for the mask, expecting it to be as fragile as glass or insubstantial as air, but its solid weight in his hand makes him wonder how many people truly know what the Blue Spirit is.


	17. Avatar Day

Title: Avatar Day  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: I. Am. Lame  
Notes: "Squeeze every last drop out of those insolent, musical peasants!" comes from Robin Hood. Thanks to dungeonwriter for the suggestion. Another quote in here is paraphrased from the television show Firefly. It's a twofer.  
Challenge: #3: Out of context (aka, take a quote from a movie or book and put it into the story)

The banners were Iroh's first warning _(Happy Avatar Day!)_ and the oddly-dressed locals were the second _(Awesome costumes, you two! Great work on that scar!)_ but when he heard the music _(He tricked that scarred prince, showed the Fire Nation what for! Our love for this kid ain't hard to explain: the hero of everyone, the Avatar Aang!_) Iroh really worried.

He expected Zuko to fly into a rage _(Squeeze every last drop out of those insolent, musical peasants!)_, but instead Zuko smiled wickedly and sat with the musicians _(You know the verses about Admiral Zhao? No? Want to learn?)_.


	18. After the Festival

Title: After the Festival  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: A sequel to drabble #17: Avatar Day. If confused, go back and reread that.  
Challenge: #11: Tourists

Zhao kicked at a discarded banner. "Zuko's ship left here recently. I want a full report on what he did and where he's headed."

His men saluted just as a local rounded the corner, singing a cheerful tune. "We don't think he remembers just what side he's fighting on…" He paused when he saw the soldiers. "Great costumes, but the festival ended yesterday. Oh, a minute before we reached the chorus, he went and burned his own fleet for us! Hurrah for that lousy Admiral Zhao-ow!"

No one dared laugh. "On second thought, perhaps we'd best pursue Prince Zuko immediately."


	19. Destiny

Title: Destiny  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #27: Choice

The sky was cloudless on the day Aunt Wu's doors failed to open. The crowd gathered around the doors, uneasy murmuring drifting in the air.

"Excuse me," a young voice chirped. Two tufts of hair bobbed their way through the crowd. "Pardon me." Meng jumped up onto a platform. "I have a message from Aunt Wu!" Meng announced.

The crowd fell silent.

"She says she's going away, and that the fates have decreed that from now on you are destined to make your own choices." Meng nodded her head smartly. "That's it."

The irony was entirely lost on the crowd.


	20. So They Say

Title: So They Say  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #4: Fairytales, Myths, and Legends

So they say, so they say:

The time came for the Avatar to die, for that is the nature of all things. His spirit rose from the ashes to kneel before the great All Father, who said to him, "You are greatest of all men. I offer you a place at my right hand, where you shall know peace and joy for all time."

The Avatar said, "Thank you, All Father, but I must refuse, for my work is not yet finished."

Each time the Avatar returns to us, it is because he has again refused paradise.

So they say.


	21. Night Secrets

Title: Night Secrets  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #8: Secrets

Note: This was written before season 2 aired

It's easier to be weak at night, Jet knows. If you cry during the day you get called a baby (or a girl, or gay), and then you get a manly punch in the shoulder before someone drags you off somewhere to do something fun.

At night, it's different. Smellerby and The Duke are sprawled over Pipsqueak like puppies, Longshot holds his bow like a potentially deadly teddybear, and there's always some sniffling kid who whispers that he misses his parents or he's scared of the dark. Jet promises not to tell. He's good with secrets.

Jet's parents are alive.


	22. A Woman Water Loves

Title: A Woman Water Loves  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #15: Pairings (Discovery)

Their engagement had been met with disbelieving stares and shared animosity (Miserable walrus! Ill-mannered shrew!), and Pakku couldn't believe he'd ever be happy with this woman.

But there were snowflakes on her lashes and ice in her hair and tears on her cheeks, and when he reached out with his power he knew the water loved her. He slipped his coat around her shoulders and gently evaporated the tears from her face.

"Am I really so awful?" he asked.

She gave a choked laugh. "Miserable walrus."

"Ill-mannered shrew."

She tasted of rainwater, and Pakku thought, "Ah, so this is love."


	23. Escape

Title: Escape  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #25: Rewriting the Past

It was past midnight when he found her at the water's edge. "Kanna," he said, and a heartbreaking "Why?"

With steady hands, she loaded her packages into the boat; surprisingly enough, he helped her. "I need adventure, Pakku. I need to see the world, and if I stay here, with you, I'm afraid I'll stop needing it. I can't risk that."

"Kanna…"

She turned away from him. "Please, don't ask me to stay."

"Kanna!" he said sharply. He was sitting in the boat, one eyebrow raised in an infuriatingly imperial manner. "If you don't stop lollygagging, the tides will change."


	24. Emergency Food Supply

Title: Emergency Food Supply  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: I am literal, but loveable  
Challenge: #26: Fish out of Water

Sokka pointed and squeaked until his mouth caught up to what his mind wanted it to say. "That was our supper!"

Aang had the decency to look sheepish. "It just looked so sad, with those big black eyes, flopping about like it couldn't breathe." Aang attempted to give Sokka puppydog eyes; Momo helped.

"It's not sad; it's food!" Sokka protested.

Katara barged in. "Knock it off, Sokka. We found enough fruit to feed us all."

"Fine," Sokka said as he pulled Aang in close. "But if you ever do this again and there isn't enough food, we eat the lemur."


	25. Elemental Love

Title: Elemental Love  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #20: Seasons

There was something wrong with Yuan, that's what everyone said. Oh, he was a lovely child—friendly, intelligent, gifted. For a boy of only four years he showed an amazing aptitude for fire bending. He was destined for great things.

Still, there was something wrong with him. Fire benders are supposed to naturally dislike the rainy season, but Yuan danced through the droplets, twirled with the wind, and jumped in the mud puddles.

Fire benders aren't supposed to play with water, wind, and earth. It's not in their nature.

More importantly, water, wind, and earth aren't supposed to play along.


	26. Healing

Title: Healing  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 50 (demi-drabble)  
Warning: None  
Challenge: #32 Resolution

Note: Written before Season 2 aired

She only offers once.

It's late at night. The glow from the campfire ought to hide his scars, but the flesh just looks rotten.

"I could heal that for you."

Her fingers twitch. He covers them with his own.

He only refuses once.

"No. You can't."

And that was that.


	27. My Bloody Valentine

Title: My Bloody Valentine  
Author: volta arovet  
Challenge: #45 - Confessions  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Deadly objects flying at a certain prince's head.  
Note: Spelling mistakes are deliberate. Try to find them all!

If there was one thing Prince Zuko had learned in his ten years of life, it was that he hated girls. They giggled all the time, they could hit you but you couldn't hit them back, and they made _absolutely no sense._

Zuko caught a glimpse of long dark hair disappearing behind a corner; he ducked the flying knives purely by instinct. The knives pinned a heart-shaped note to a tree, which read:

_"You make my misrable existance slightly less horrable. –your secret admirer."_

If there was one _other_ thing Prince Zuko had learned, it was that girls were terrifying.


	28. Cryptography

Title: Cryptography  
Author: volta arovet  
Word Count: 100  
Warning: Spoilers for "Northern Air Temple"  
Challenge: #86 - Documents

He wrote in mirror writing, columns of scrawled characters weaving around diagrams, left to right.

The Fire Nation marched closer.

He switched to a code, cipher rotating at designated words, the phase of the moon, the order of the brush stroke in his signature on each page.

The Fire Nation marched closer.

He no longer used page numbers. Diagrams were broken into three parts, only complete when overlaid correctly.

The Fire Nation marched closer.

He concocted false blueprints: tempting weaponry, fatal defects hidden deep within.

In the end, he gave the Fire Nation what they wanted without subterfuge or flaw.


	29. The Day He Left

Title: The Day He Left  
Author: volta arovet  
Challenge #94: Samson  
Word Count: 100  
Warnings: Spoilers for The Deserter, I suppose

It was a calm autumn evening, the edges of the trees just barely singed with red, when Jeongjeong grasped the knife.

The blade was smooth and cool and much too sharp; he tested it and blood pooled from his thumb.

His uniform was spread on his cot, as if he had lain down and simply vanished. He wore only plain traveling clothes: a brown cloak and an old wrap--once deep blue, now a sickly green from too much sun and smoke.

The hair fell free with one simple slice.

He left his topknot behind, offering his honor, taking only strength.


	30. Gardenalia

Title: Gardenalia  
Author: volta arovet  
Word count: 100 perfectly on the first try  
Rating: G  
Challenge: #95: Purple, Orange and Red

He brought her Tigerbee Lilies, thick petals bold and forceful as her fists. She declared their scent unbearable and tossed them away.

He brought her Cockatrice Roses, sweet petals soft and curled as her lips. She labeled them a thorny waste of good dirt's time and left them to rot.

He brought her Emperor Violets, moon petals pale and translucent as her eyes. She announced them delicious as she gnashed them, with sugar, between perfect, white teeth.

He brought her a cheongja of rich, heady earth, and Toph Bei Fong finally smiled and allowed her suitor to enter her home.


End file.
